Netball: Aitken spoilt for choice after second loss

New Zealand netball coach Ruth Aitken has no shortage of alternatives at her disposal when it comes to figuring out what to worry about next.

After last night's 44-53 loss to a slick World 7 outfit in Rotorua, Aitken has a wide range of Silver Ferns shortcomings to pick and choose from.

The defeat was New Zealand's second loss in three days to a composite team of current internationals and former stars that just met each other late last week. It was a more comprehensive loss than Monday's 44-48 defeat in Wellington, coming on the back of a truly horrendous first quarter.

And there are just two days to recover before the Silver Ferns have to play to avoid an embarrassing series whitewash in Auckland on Saturday.

If that wasn't bad enough, there is the spectre of five tests next month against the world champion Australian Diamonds - three across the Tasman and two in New Zealand.

Perhaps Aitken's most pressing concern is how to instil some sort of self-belief in a Silver Ferns team that seems inexplicably at rock bottom when it comes to confidence.

There are very few changes from the team which downed England two times out of three last year, and beat Australian twice from four encounters. Veteran captain Julie Seymour has retired, but has been replaced by the experienced Temepara George, while defender Sheryl Scanlan is missing through injury.

Apart from that, and the introduction of new caps Larrissa Willcox and Anna Thompson, the team remains remarkably similar to last year's.

Yet while there is no doubting the individual talents on offer, the team as a whole seems strangely lacking in fluency, plagued by a high error rate and incapable of establishing through-court links with any sort of consistency.

These problems were behind Aitken's decision to make wholesale changes after just 15 minutes of last night's hour-long test, as the Natasha Chokljat-captained World 7 hit the ground running and streaked away to a 15-7 lead.

"I was a bit shellshocked, I must admit," Aitken said afterwards. "To their credit, they came out firing, we made a couple of mistakes and we just lost confidence in each other. Eight goals down is not what you want, then it just becomes catch-up."

Rookie goal attack Thompson was replaced by Maria Tutaia, Liana Barrett-Chase was benched and George took over her duties at wing attack. And Laura Langman moved from wing defence to add drive at centre while newcomer Larrissa Willcox took the court at wing defence.

Things did not improve immediately, as the World 7 streaked away to a 22-10 lead midway through the spell. But a five-goal run leading into halftime gave the Silver Ferns a ray of hope at 16-23 down with 30 minutes to go.

It proved illusory. The World 7 steadied, regathered, introduced 1.96m goal shoot Romelda Aiken and continued on to take the second half 30-28 and seal a well-earned win.

Aitken said the Silver Ferns' consistency was a concern, as was a lack of patience finding shooters Irene van Dyk - who was top shooter at 90 per cent - and Tutaia.

"I certainly felt that we started each quarter poorly. We went on court and didn't do what we needed to and we went down. Then we'd fight back really, really well, then we'd have another break and down we'd go again.

"That ability to keep the intensity going was challenged at times."

A tendency to try and force the pass, particularly into van Dyk and Tutaia, also proved costly, she said.

"Especially early on, they changed their defence and were a lot tighter. We needed to get the ball to circle edge and make it work. We just gifted them too much."

Aitken said players and coaches still had to keep their eye on the long-term goals - defending their Commonwealth Games gold medal, and wresting the world championship title from Australia.

"While the results out there are challenging, we've got to continue looking at our big picture.

We're process-focused in terms of what we're going to do," she said.

"Yes, it is hugely disappointing, but there's no getting away from it. We've got to own the performance... we know we're capable of so much better."

- NZPA